Health Ministry takes dental programme to East Bank schools

Nov 27, 2008 News

Dr Gretel Balseiro attends to a patient

Although efforts are continually being made to emphasise the importance of dental care, there is still evidence that many persons are not adhering to simple but necessary dental practices.
At least this is the concern of Dental Technician, Holly Adridge, who along with a team of medical officials, including Cuban Dr Gretel Balseiro, undertook a massive teeth cleaning campaign at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre yesterday.
The activity which came as part of the observance of Oral Health Month is the fifth such activity to be held on the East Bank of Demerara. Similar activities have been conducted in other parts of the country.
According to Adridge the dental team had visited a number of schools and clinics on East Bank Demerara in a bid to heighten the awareness of dental health.
Yesterday’s activity, which was ceremonially initiated by Region Four Regional Chairman, Clement Corlette, saw hundreds of individuals filing into the medical facility to have their free dental check-up.
Among the services offered were cleaning, filling, artificial restoration and extractions.
Adridge disclosed that some 80 school children were slated to receive attention while more than 300 hundred adults from Diamond and surrounding areas were expected to be catered to.
And among the most common cases that are usually found, Adridge said, are periodontitis which is the inflammation of the periodontus, and gingivitis which is an advanced form of the gum disease.
She explained that gum diseases are caused by persons’ lack of understanding of how to brush properly, their failure to eat healthy foods such as vegetables and fruits, as well as the failure to consume adequate amounts of milk.
She noted that yesterday’s activity saw medical officials educating persons on the ways in which they could better care for their teeth.
And these, she said, include advising persons to brush their teeth three times daily and visit the dentist at least twice a year. Persons who were attended to also became eligible to receive Colgate toothpaste and toothbrushes intended to help them practice what they were taught by the medical experts.
The teeth cleaning campaign will continue today at the Timehri Prisons, according to Adridge, who noted that the observance of the month will conclude tomorrow at the Kuru Kuru College, on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.
Oral Health Month, which is usual observed in November, was formally launched in Bartica by Minister within the Health Ministry Dr Bheri Ramsaran.